KINGSTON, N.Y. -- The curtain has fallen on one big summertime theatrical production in Phoenicia and is about to open on another one in Kingston.

In the meantime, a bit of off-stage drama has spilled out into the public.

Those behind the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice published a disclaimer Friday making it clear that it is in no way connected to the upcoming Kingston Festival of the Arts being run by Kerry Henderson, a co-founder of the Phoenicia event.

Advertisement

The disclaimer was issued to "protect the names and privacy" of the Phoenicia festival's database and artists, according to Maria Todaro, who together with her husband, Louis Otey, and Henderson founded the Phoenicia festival in 2010.

It was held earlier this month over a four-day weekend in the hamlet of Phoenicia.

The internationally known opera stars have since parted -- with Henderson striking out on his own to start a citywide arts celebration in Kingston that began at San Severia in Midtown earlier this summer.

He has also renovated space at 296 Wall St. to create the Uptown Gallery and festival headquarters. A day-long celebration of the arts is planned for Aug. 24.

Todaro said part of what prompted her to issue the disclaimer was a Facebook posting on a third party's timeline.

Gloria Waslyn, known for her Parrots For Peace, is co-coordinating the Kingston festival with Henderson and was at the Phoenicia vocal event, encouraging others to support Henderson's new venture.

Todaro said Henderson's fliers were given out and, while she doesn't take issue with that, there was an incident or two that crossed the line.

Some of the artists who had performed at the voice festival, she said, were approached and "grabbed" by Waslyn to take photos with her four macaw parrots.

"They said it was presented in a tricky way ... for spiritual peace,'" Todaro said.

"I had so many complaints of people saying, 'Please get it under control.' We had a little bit of repair control to be done, and the best way was to protect our organization," Todaro said.

She said the encounters made some of the artists and donors, who are protective of their reputation to begin with, feel uncomfortable and pressured on the spot to endorse the Kingston festival.

Waslyn said as soon as she found out the artists had complained, she removed the photos from Facebook.

"There was no trickery, no deceit," Waslyn said. "I would never go against my own soul."

Both parties have publicly wished each other well, but the Phoenicia disclaimer also has suggested that Henderson has been using their patrons' emails "and has never asked for authorization nor received permission to do so."

For his part, Henderson said several of those people are his friends and colleagues.

"I didn't actually hear one complaint," he said. "And there is an unsubscribe button if they don't want to put their necks out."

Todaro said she and her husband parted ways with Henderson in the winter.

"We miss his companionship, but he had different perspective about how the festival should be done and was focusing on his own thing. It became a little toxic," she said.

Todaro said some of that stemmed from Henderson's desire to start making money. He has a wife and two children, she pointed out.

"We have not been paid for four years, and we're working for free (on the Phoenicia festival). Kerry had problems to commit to the same level, so we asked him to have a reduced role in the organization, and he said it's all or nothing."

Henderson said it was not that way at all. He said it was just time to leave on his own.

"When you have a baby and then you're asked to take a reduced role in parenting that baby, how would you feel about it?" he said.

"It's way more than simply asking me to take a reduced role. They actually asked me to resign as executive director as well as resign from the Board of Trustees," Henderson said.

The board consisted of him, Otey and Todaro.

"At the same time, they had the ... requirement that I would continue doing the same amount of work with online marketing or website development. Everything would be exactly the same on the surface. I could make speeches for the festival, but they wanted me off the Board of Trustees."

Todaro said she wishes Henderson well with his upcoming festival in Kingston. Her husband also encouraged those attending the Phoenicia festival's final performance of the "Requiem" to support him.

"We've been trying to minimize the negativity. We don't want to divide the audiences," she said.

Henderson said he is like-minded and hopes they can all move on and make the area richer with the arts, even in territory beyond Phoenicia.

"I'm excited about my next step, and I'm proud to have played a leading role in creating the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voices, but it was time for me to take on a new challenge," Henderson said.